UK Al Qaeda man loses his appeal over torture claim

A terrorist who claims British agents were complicit in his torture has lost his appeal against conviction.

Rangzieb Ahmed, 34, was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court in 2008 for directing terrorism.

The jury heard that he headed a three-man Al Qaeda cell which was preparing to commit mass murder.

Appeals: Rangzieb Ahmed left, alleged that the UK was complicit in his torture in Pakistan. His appeal was rejected, as was that of Habib Ahmed, right

However, he claims that police and the security services had earlier allowed him to leave Britain for Pakistan while he was under surveillance, knowing that he would be mistreated.

While there, he says, agents from the feared Inter-Services Intelligence pulled out three of his fingernails with pliers.

Details of Ahmed’s claims were made public by former shadow home secretary David Davis in the House of Commons using Parliamentary privilege.

He accused British officials of ‘passive rendition’ which meant Ahmed was ‘viciously tortured’.

His lawyers argued his subsequent conviction should be ruled unlawful because it was ‘tainted’ by torture evidence obtained with Britain’s complicity.

During the appeal hearing last year Ahmed’s QC, Joel Bennathan, said the trial judge should have halted the proceedings against his client as an ‘abuse of process’.

But yesterday three Appeal court judges, Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Owen and Mrs Justice Thirlwall, rejected the appeal and said it was right that the trial went ahead.

They said the alleged torture had not been proven, and even if it did take place it had no effect on the trial.

Before the prosecution was heard, the trial judge investigated the claims and said Ahmed had not been able to prove he had been tortured.

Any torture that may have taken place did not occur before Ahmed was seen by British security officers, the judge concluded.

In yesterday’s ruling, Lord Justice Hughes agreed with the trial judge who had ‘expressly rejected the suggestion of outsourcing torture by British authorities’.

The trial judge had found ‘simply no evidence that they had assisted or encouraged the Pakistani detainers to detain him unlawfully or to ill-treat him in any way, whether amounting to torture or not’.

Lord Justice Hughes added: ‘Even if there had been torture whilst Rangzieb was in Pakistan, it had no bearing on the trial and there was no reason why the question of whether or not he was guilty of an antecedent crime in England should not be decided according to law.’

He added: ‘Torture is wrong. If it had occurred there could be no excuse for it, not even if Rangzieb was a suspected terrorist who might kill people.

‘But the question was not whether it is wrong, but what consequences flow from it if it occurred.’

Ahmed was jailed for life with a minimum term of ten years after the Manchester Crown Court jury found him guilty of being a member of Al Qaeda with his associate, Manchester taxi driver Habib Ahmed.

Habib Ahmed, who was jailed for ten years, also lost his appeal.

Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit, welcomed the ruling.

He said: ‘The North West Counter-Terrorism Unit does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment. ‘We are pleased with this further vindication of our action which was taken to ensure we can fulfil our role in thoroughly investigating terrorism.’

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Terrorist loses appeal against conviction despite claim he had been tortured into confessing